Hockey Day in America Does Consistent, Season-High Business For NBC

Hockey Day in America turned out to be a relative success for NBC and the NHL, ratings-wise.

An NBC Sports spokesmen tells Puck the Media this afternoon that both the 12:30 PM ET regional window (Philadelphia/NY Rangers, Minnesota/Detroit and Washington/Buffalo) and the 3:30 PM ET national Game of the Week featuring Pittsburgh vs. Chicago drew a 1.2 in the overnights, both season highs for NBC’s coverage of hockey, aside from the Winter Classic. The windows are up 25% from last week’s 12:30 PM ET broadcast of Boston/Detroit, which drew an 0.9 overnight.

There is no comparable date for the NHL on NBC last year, as the network was airing the Olympics that week in 2010. However, two years ago the network aired Penguins/Capitals on the comparable date and drew a 1.1, marking an 8.3% improvement for this year’s broadcast. While it may be a small bump, the fact is that the regional games, doubleheader, later timeslot and general curiosity led to a decent start for the league and network’s new hockey tradition.

Through six telecasts (on five dates) The NHL On NBC is averaging a 1.3 overnight rating.

12:30 ET is way too early of a start time. Even the announcers were saying that the teams looked like it was too early for them as well. Ridiculous especially in the DET/MIN game since the game started at 11:30am Minnesota time.